Godot: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Thanks, although I was referring to changes in GDScript, itself. IE I still have no idea how to make a variable public anymore. (It used to be export var var_name...)

So far, I find GDScript in Godot 4 unusable. Is it harder? IDK, but it would take way too long to have to go through all the docs for it to find every single little change.

Nerdzmasterz I was referring to changes in GDScript, itself.

And how do you even organize the search for small changes? If you have ideas, you are welcome to suggest them. It is quite in demand and maybe someone will be interested in it.

For now, I look through each new version report and look for things that concern me.

Nerdzmasterz Starting small, is there a doc that offers changes from 3.x to 4.x?

This what you are looking for?

https://docs.godotengine.org/en/latest/tutorials/migrating/upgrading_to_godot_4.html

Thank you! That helps a lot! It is true, though - if you change the name of the node type, it's incredibly hard to figure out what it's called.

I'll double check, but I didn't see anything on export var yet. It's crucial as I often need to use variables from one node to another (enemy with X damage on the player, items offering Y health, etc.) Signals even seem different now.

export becomes @export

MikeCL Language please!

I am very apologetic, but I am using a translator and there are two terms for what I wanted to refer to: "trash" and "garbage". As far as I know they are both literary terms. I would be extremely grateful if someone could enlighten me on the difference in their usage and why one of them is undesirable.

And also, try to be more constructive in your response.

I'm trying very hard to be constructive. But it is extremely difficult to do so when the base of the proposed discussion is itself completely unconstructive. The article was even quickly deleted by the author ("garbage collection" is a well-established term in programming), which shows that the "arguments" and "reasoning" contained in it are too unreasonable.

It is a very negative base to work on, I agree... but it's also a mountain that can't be fully examined in a few phrases. I wish, instead, people would just find a section of it and work on that.

Tomcat but I am using a translator and there are two terms for what I wanted to refer to: "trash" and "garbage"

I see. So the use of those words (I would say both of them) in this context can be very harsh and insulting and can be interpreted as hostile. You could just have asked the question without those words, and it would have been enough.

Tomcat But it is extremely difficult to do so when the base of the proposed discussion is itself completely unconstructive.

I understand you feel that way. But by asking politely, you might get an answer explaining the thought process and motivation behind it. I think it has already been discussed and explained the reasoning behind the article, so I'll leave it at that.

You don't have to agree with it. Disagreements are fine. But being respectful and having a good tone is important.

duane What are the issues with it?

Granted, I only came to Godot two months ago and 4.1.1 is all I ever used, so basically I am young and naive, but so far it has been smooth sailing for me. Sure, I had some issues when renaming/moving scene files but those were always easy to fix.

But I read so many complaints about Godot 4 and I always wonder if we are using two different programs because as I said I don't think I ran into anything that I would call a real issue. And I cannot remember a single crash.

Or I am just not doing anything fancy and therefore don't even venture into the depths where the scary monsters lurk, who knows.

I just don't want to have to go all the way back to Your First Game just to understand what the heck is going on. It's frustrating that using Godot 3.x for so long means all the coding I understand is obsolete in 4.x.

Now, I did like how Unity would mention how an obsolete code was replaced with X. Even that would be incredibly helpful here in Godot 4.

GDScript didn't really change all that much. Of course starting with a beginner tutorial would be a completely waste of time if you already know GDscript for Godot 3.

I would go with the reference document instead: https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/scripting/gdscript/gdscript_basics.html

Takes 10-15 minutes to read through and contains all the important details, expect for node and API renaming. Most node renaming is kinda intuitive, basically just increased consistency. And the API changes on a specific nodes you can get by reading through the build-in documentation (F1). Takes also only seconds in most cases.

Nerdzmasterz It's frustrating that using Godot 3.x for so long means all the coding I understand is obsolete in 4.x.

Well now, that's quite a bit of hyperbole. Any programmer should be able to quickly switch from GDScript 3 to 4 and if you really cannot find the will to invest one hour (and that is already stretching it) into learning how to make the switch from GDScript 3 to 4 then, yeah, I''m sorry and don't know what to say.

Personally I am happy to see evolution instead of clinging to old concepts just because it could be a small inconvenience to some. The shitshow that is the hesitation of the C++ committee not to shake the boat comes to mind.

I'm a slow learner... It could take me a bit longer than that to grasp it.

I'm glad most of you are having an easy time with 4.x.

In my own defense, I'm probably a little older than the average godot'er. I had a part-time job keypunching when I was in school -- that's punching holes in hollerith cards, in this case. At that time, my advisors recommended cobol classes, because cobol will never die.

I retired over ten years ago, and haven't been doing much with anything tougher than lua and python. I got into love2d years ago, but had some issues with it, so I started playing with godot. It took me three years to get comfortable with godot 3.x, and by then 4.0 was out. I kept trying to figure it out, but eventually I just gave up and went back to love2d, which I picked up again immediately. (Well, it hasn't changed much in a decade.)

Unfortunately, love2d still has issues, so after a few months I started looking at my old godot projects, and tried converting them to 4.x again. This time, I'm doing a lot better, though I'm still not up to speed.

I don't remember exactly what was defeating me a year ago, but it was mostly api issues. I'm afraid to touch 3.x now. Maybe it's like learning a new keymap, and going back for a week will set your learning back ten weeks.

Ah yeah Reddit! The Home of the terminally stupid, much like Facebook IMO.

GodotBeginnerRich Nah, that’s just a terrible take. There is a lot of great stuff on Reddit, just as there is crap. Just like everywhere else.